$6 toll is on the way to nowhere

I was listening to the tune "We're on the Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads in 1985 when I first noticed the growing traffic problem in our region. Ironic, huh?

As I look back, it is my considered opinion that the powers that control transportation in Hampton Roads haven't done a good job anticipating our traffic needs since I moved to the area back in 1981.

At the time local leadership dreamed of the day that folks who lived in the seven cities and surrounding areas would think of themselves as one big happy family.

No sooner than I got used to saying "Good morning, Tidewater" on my morning television news shift — planners came up with the bright idea to call the region Hampton Roads.

Why worry about a name? I thought at the time. We need to figure out a better way to connect the cities in a way that doesn't require the driver to pack a lunch to get to the other side.

Regarding that happy family thing, you had to make a convincing argument to visit grandma if it involved the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

The first city I lived in back in the '80s was Hampton. I loved the city by the sea and my apartment was a short drive to the old TV station on Pembroke Avenue. But my friends on the southside would say "Do you really expect me to drive all the way over there?"

I would say, are you serious? It takes the same amount of time to drive from Norfolk to Portsmouth. What's the big deal?

What I didn't know at the time is that the water that divides South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula is the equivalent of a seven-foot hurdle in the minds of commuters on both sides.

In the 1990s, I moved to the Southside to be closer to the Norfolk studio but kept commuting through the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel to go to my favorite shops and Newport News hair stylist at Luckes Beauty Salon. You know what they say, some women will change husbands before they change stylists.

The opening of the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel in 1992 helped ease some of the burden. And in the mid-'90s when the Virginia Beach Expressway and Portsmouth Downtown Tunnel became toll free, commuters did the happy dance.

Like a growing child, Hampton Roads kept having traffic growth spurts. Only a small minority use mass transit, and our highways and bridge-tunnels are more congested than ever.

We commuters hoped and prayed the Einsteins of traffic planning would anticipate the gridlock that is our everyday reality these days.

Now here we are in 2010, with little or no public funds to solve our traffic issues and along comes the idea of a public/private partnership. The Virginia Department of Transportation is looking for bids from companies looking to widen the HRBT from two lanes to four.

Great idea, and long overdue. I hit my horn in appreciation …until I read that one proposal already submitted would charge a toll between $4 and $6, both ways — and not just for the HRBT but the Monitor-Merrimac and the James River Bridge.

Don't you folks realize that commuters already have a perception problem with driving to and from the Peninsula and the southside? Add a big fat toll and what do you think will happen?

How will that impact students from the southside who commute to Hampton University or Christopher Newport University? Or folks on the southside who commute to work at the Newport News shipyard?

Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms has a prediction he said "I can tell you $6, I think, I really think that could be the kiss of death for that project."

Sessoms says the only way to fund roads is through a gas tax.

VDOT says tolls are the only available revenue stream to have the project completed in six years.

Taxpayers know and understand that we have to pay for our road projects, but what some of us don't understand is why Northern Virginia gets the lion's share of the available funds and Hampton Roads gets the meager leftovers.

Don't take my word for it, use the Freedom of Information Act and take a look for yourselves.

I've since turned in my automobile cassette player for a CD player. I still like the Talking Heads. And I'm pressing the play button for the song "We're on the Road to Nowhere" because it's still at the top of my play list while navigating traffic in Hampton Roads.

Ciara is a news anchor at WTKR NewsChannel 3. Her column runs on the first Monday of the month. She can be reached at Barbara.Ciara@wtkr.com or at 446-1344.